How can we live differently in 2024?
What is a low buy/no buy year?^1
A low buy/no buy year is basically a year where we cut down on our purchases. Low buy year = buy lesser wants, and no buy year = buy only necessities.
Why is this becoming a trend?
With inflation and many individuals looking for financial growth and financial freedom, embarking on a low buy/no buy year is a way to reset our spending habits and save money. Also, with influencers participating in this challenge/movement, many of their followers have also been inspired to join in.
How do we begin?^2
Step One - Set goals
Setting goals is always the most important step. Goals help us to stay on course should temptations arise along the way. Here are some questions to help you get started:
Isit to save money? (To pay off loans, buy a luxury bag, spend on your dream wedding)
Isit to remedy your impulse buying habit? (Buying what you need vs what you want)
Isit to lead a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle? (Reduce waste)
Isit to practise delayed gratification?
Isit to declutter?
Isit to challenge ourselves?
Step Two - Set rules
The clearer the rules, the easier it will be for us to follow them.
Here are some questions to help you get started:
What are approved recurrent needs? E.g. food, household necessities, utilities and hp bills, haircuts.
What are approved recurrent wants? E.g. date nights with our partner, Netflix subscription, social outings with friends, pedicure & manicure.
What are approved one-off needs? E.g. new laptop because the old one unexpectedly died.
What are approved one-off wants? E.g. vacation,staycation, concert tickets.
Make no mistake that wants can also be included in a low buy year’s total spending budget. Because what matters is how much we spend rather than what we spend on.
Step Three - Track our purchases
Date of purchase
Item purchased
Reason for purchase
Price of purchase
The remaining budget available for the same category of approved purchases. E.g. budget for approved one-off wants after buying Taylor Swift concert tickets.
Tracking our purchases separately by their category (recurrent needs, recurrent wants, etc) instead of altogether, will give us a more accurate picture of our expenses.
Step Four – Make it a Challenge and not a Chore ^3
As with any new habit or endeavour, it is probably the toughest in the beginning. Making it fun can help make the process more enjoyable. We can ask a different group of friends each month to do the challenge with us. And the “losers” treat the “winners” to a meal each month.
We can also take small breaks in between.
We can take a few days break every month and allow ourselves “cheat buys” that are reasonable.
Evaluate our end results vs our initial goals. Even if we fall short of our goals, but being better off than when we started the year, should still be considered a success nonetheless.
“Starting somewhere is better than not starting at all.” If a low buy/no buy year is too long for you, start with half a year, a quarter, a month, or a week. And slowly pace yourself to do a little
longer each time. It’s essential practise for all of us. Because when we eventually retire, we won’t have the option to increase our income although our expenses will increase. Then budgeting will become key to our everyday life to ensure that our money doesn’t expire before we do.
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